A study performed in collaboration between Boston University School of Medicine and the University of Cambridge in the UK was recently published in the online version of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, and this study shows that there may be a link between food addiction and impulsive behavior. A number of research studies have shown that healthy people tend to be less impulsive in general, but it is not certain whether the food addiction or other eating disorder causes the impulse problems or if it is a result of impulsive behavior instead. BUSM pharmacology and psychiatry associate professor Pietro Cottone, PhD, who also happens to be the co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders, explained. “While impulsivity might have aided ancestors to choose calorie-rich foods when food was scarce, our study results suggest that, in today’s calorie-rich environment, impulsivity promotes pathological overeating.”

Food addiction is a growing problem across the world, and impulsive behavior is also becoming a common trend as well. When you have poor impulse control you are more likely to give in, and this includes where food is concerned. The reward center of the brain is stimulated by the food consumption when you suffer from a food addiction, the same way that someone who is addicted to heroin gets high when using the drug. Eating makes the individual feel good, and they may have difficulty regulating their food intake as a result. Further studies may help identify the causes of the link more clearly.